Ferris State Athletics Listed Seventh Nationally After Historic Fall Season In All-Sports Race

Big Rapids, Mich. - After highly-successful and historic seasons by three key teams that achieved postseason success, Ferris State University Athletics closed the fall campaign listed seventh in the nation in the 2018-19 Learfield Division II Directors' Cup standings for all-sports success.

The Bulldogs tallied 204 total points this fall in the points system with the football squad, which reached the NCAA Division II National Championship game for the first time in school history, leading the way with 90 points based on its runner-up national finish. Ferris State also totaled 64 points in women's soccer based on a NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen finish, capping off the most historic season in program history. Finally, the Bulldog volleyball squad advanced to the NCAA Division II Midwest Region Semifinals and earned 50 points in the standings.

After the fall season, the Colorado School of Mines leads all teams in the nation with 340 total points. The Bulldogs are one of three Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) schools in the top 10 of nearly 150 Division II schools that earned at least one point in the fall.

The Learfield Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in NCAA Championships. Complete standings and the scoring structure can be found on NACDA's website at www.directorscup.org.

Learfield unlocks the value of college sports for brands, fans and universities. A fully integrated marketing and solutions platform, Learfield manages multimedia and sponsorship rights for nearly 130 collegiate institutions, conferences and arenas. Through its family of solutions, Learfield provides access to professional concessions and ticket sales; branding, licensing and commerce management; digital and social expertise; campus-wide business and sponsorship development; and venue technology systems. For over 40 years, the company has had the privilege of being an advocate for intercollegiate athletics, and since 2008, has served as title sponsor of the acclaimed Learfield Directors' Cup.

This fall, Ferris State football made its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division II National Championship game as the Bulldogs finished the year with a 15-1 overall record. The 15 wins matchces the all-time NCAA record for total victories in a campaign.

Along with reaching the title game, the Bulldogs captured the GLIAC Championship in 2018 and won the Super Region Three title by winning their first four NCAA Playoff games en route to a historic run. The four playoff wins included FSU's first-ever National Semifinal victory at Minnesota State. The Bulldogs hold the nation's best record (60-7) over the past five seasons and are one of only four teams in all of college football at any NCAA level to win 11 games each of the last five years along with Alabama, Ohio State and North Dakota State.

Bulldog Soccer wrapped up its season, the winningest in school history with a 17-4-3 overall record, with a #10 finish in the final national poll. The #10 ranking is the highest in school history, and the first ever in the top-10 in the country in a run to the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship match as one of the nation's final 16 teams playing. The Bulldogs qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history and hosted, winning their first two tournament games, all on an at-large bid after earning GLIAC runner-up honors in both the regular-season and the postseason tournament.

This fall, Ferris State Volleyball made its eighth consecutive NCAA Tournament bid and has now advanced to at least the regional semifinals each of the last eight years. FSU's regional appearance represented the program's 23rd all-time. The Bulldogs finished the regular-season as GLIAC Champions for the fifth-straight year with a perfect 16-0 league mark. It was the eighth-straight year in which FSU finished either first or second in the conference.

Along with winning this year's GLIAC regular-season crown, Ferris State also captured the 2018 GLIAC Volleyball Tournament Championship for the fifth consecutive year as FSU topped Davenport to earn the program's sixth tourney title in school history while becoming the first squad in league history to capture five-straight crowns.

At various points this fall, all three programs were ranked among the top 10 nationally with football finishing #2 in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) ranking and volleyball coming in #14 nationally in the final American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) listing in addition to soccer's #10 finish.

In addition to those three programs, the Ferris State men's and women's cross country teams also had an individual runner advance to the NCAA Division II National Championships this fall, which represented the first time in school history in which both teams had a runner compete individually at the national meet in the same season.